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On April 22, the Mounds View gym was full of geometry students preparing for their final project: gigantic blow-up shapes.

Height comparison of student to balloon

Mounds View Geometry students have spent time in class and out of class for a week to prepare for “build day.” This took place in the gym and lasted the whole day, replacing the students’ final exam for the unit.

Top row from left to right: sophomores Jaden Blomberg, Dalanie Oliver and Shania Fleming. Bottom row from left to right: freshmen Taylor Trondson and Samantha Baraga.

Spending many hours in class and setting up their final product on Friday, the Giant Inflatable project was a massive success. As students were preparing to inflate their 3D shapes, geometry teachers went around asking students questions about surface area and the volume of their shape. While working on their project, students learned that time management is crucial. “You have to come completely prepared on Build Day,” said Laila Bushagour, 9. “If you have no idea what the dimensions of your shape will be or how much plastic you will need, you will fall behind.”

Students had mixed feelings about how they felt about the event in the end, but many agreed that the experience was, at the very least, quite different from a typical assignment. The time commitment for preparation was several hours for most groups, but it was able to make the gym balloon with energy for the day.

One out of every seven people in the U.S. relies on food banks in order to feed themselves and their families. The Ralph Reeder Food Shelf, located in New Brighton, is an organization that works to help those who rely on food banks.

On January 25th, 2016, plans to build the Dakota Access Pipeline were announced, but it wasn’t until late July that conflict between the Standing Rock Tribe and the Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company (ETCO), the corporation building the pipeline, began. Since then, thousands of protesters at Standing Rock and millions more around the world have come together to rally against an unjust construction plan.